The search giant has been on a green energy kick this spring, signing one big solar and wind deal after another. Wednesday’s deal is a follow-on to a $55 million investment Google made in May in a huge wind farm under construction in Southern California.
The $55 million, matched by Citibank, went into the 102-megawatt Alta IV phase of the 1,550-megawatt Alta Wind Energy Center being built by Terra-Gen Power in the Tehachapi region of SoCal. Wednesday $102 million will be invested in the 168-megawatt Alta V phase of the project. Citibank is also joining that investment.
For those keeping score, Google so far this year has invested $700 million in green energy projects for a total of more than $780 million. Last week, for instance, the company announced it would create a $280 million fund to finance residential solar systems to be installed by Silicon Valley startup SolarCity.
Utility Southern California Edison has contracted to buy the power from the Alta wind project, which currently is generating 720 megawatts.
In past wind energy deals, Google has signed power purchase agreements with wind farm operators to buy the electricity produced by their projects. This time Google, along with Citibank, is acquiring the Alta IV and Alta V projects and will lease them back to Terra-Gen Power in a leveraged lease deal.
“It’s a financial structure that we hope will encourage new types of investors to consider investing in wind,” Rick Needham, Google’s director of green business operations, wrote in a blog post Wednesday. “We are particularly excited about AWEC because it will be one of the largest wind energy centers in the world.”
